


Our Own Little Christmas

by cinnamontoffee



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Cute Kids, F/M, Gen, Tales of Secret Santa 2019, duke fabre isn't allowed here, little Asch is an adorable dork, minor appearances by susanne and mieu, talessecretsanta2019, tear is a tired but happy mum, what do you mean susanne doesn't have a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21949126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamontoffee/pseuds/cinnamontoffee
Summary: Luke and Tear participate in Christmas activities with their children.
Relationships: Luke fon Fabre/Tear Grants
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Our Own Little Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sureimiku](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sureimiku/gifts).



> See below for more. Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have a great day today! Pretty much 100% sure the person receiving this is very much surprised.

Luke hadn't expected spending the snowy day visiting caterers for the Kimlascan Christmas luncheon in his father's stead. And he definitely did not expect to take his four year old son with him either. Today he had promised Asch that they would go and play in the snow together, until they were met by Duke Fabre, who had announced that he was leaving for the week 'for duties' and shoving his responsibilities for the luncheon upon him. Asch hadn't understood why his daddy couldn't play with him, he didn't even know what a luncheon was, but he supposed that going with him would eventually lead them to their promised father-son bonding.

To both father and son, this going-all-over-Baticul-and-speaking-to-strangers activity was boring, and slightly overwhelming. Luke wasn't too pleased about having the menu changed halfway due to some noble's rather poor taste in food, especially since a good amount of it included foods that both Tear and Asch hated. Who even cares about eggplant stew?!

As the redhead finally finished speaking to the last chef and writing down the last details, he felt a little squeeze on his hand.

"Daddy... we done yet..?" Asch whined, obviously uncomfortable as he kicked the snow in front of him.

"Yeah, we're done, we're going home now," Luke smiled down at his son, returning the squeeze, "we can play in the snow like I promised. And maybe mommy can join us."

"Tired."

"I get you." the noble replied, realizing he shouldn't have brought him along. He led his son into the cable car, and buckled him into the child's seat. Asch immediately began to wave his little feet to pass the time, as Luke read his notes. If Father KNEW that the changes had to be made, why did he impose it onto me to do it? Realizing that his son was clearly bored, he tried to change his train of thought. "Did you know mommy took out butter before we left to make some cookies?" the child's attention was caught, and his sky blue eyes enlightened.

"It the cut out ones?" he asked, a little smile now painting itself on his face.

"Exactly those, and it's the way mommy makes them that you like." Luke ruffled his son's red hair. He lightens up so much like Tear, huh.

"Can I share cookies wif Mieu?" the young boy had innocently asked.

"Sadly, no. I don't think cheagles should have cookies."

"Can I share wif Yulia?"

"I wish we could, but she has no teeth and can't eat cookies." Luke replied, laughing a little.

As he and his son stepped off the cable car and they walked to the manor, Asch began walking slower, then eventually clinging to his father's leg.

"Is grandpa home?" the child asked, shivering a little.

"No, remember I said grandpa is away for the week?" Luke comforted him, caressing his head gently. It was really sad that his son was scared of his own grandfather. Though, it was to be expected. Duke Fabre was intimidating on his own, and liked to belittle Tear when Luke and Susanne weren't around. When she gave birth to Asch, he at first seemed welcoming to the baby, even though he liked to bring up the fact that 'his first grandchild will have Malkuthian blood' during her pregnancy. But once they noticed the boy's eyes were a beautiful blue instead of green, the older noble threw a fit, and yelled at both mother and child, and Tear now kept a respectable distance from him.

Upon entering the manor, Luke helped Asch remove his snow coat and boots, with the red headed child running into the living area, most likely looking for his mother. He had found her, sitting half asleep on the sofa with a newborn baby swaddled against her chest. Luke followed, and smiled as his little family reunited. Before the four year old or the baby could fully wake her up, Luke planted a kiss on his wife's forehead, immediately startling her.

"Luke? Asch? When did you-"

"We literally just came, and we found both of you dozing off." He answered, giving Tear another kiss.

"Mama, daddy 'nd I went all over!" Asch began to retell his and Luke's morning together to his mother.

"Really? And did you have fun?" the woman smiled, freeing one of her hands to pull her son into an embrace. He began to reach his hand to cup the newborn's cheek and gently rub it, alike to how his parents did to him sometimes.

"No. 'T was boring."

"I figured as much." A small laugh escaped from her. Her sudden movement caused the baby to shift in her mother's arms, hiding her face with tiny, wrinkly, pink-ish fists. Luke smiled, placing his forefinger in her palm, in which her little fingers curled around it tightly.

"So how has the little lady been this morning?" he asked.

"She was super fussy this morning, but she just fed and has finally calmed down. For now at least." Tear sighed, gazing down at Yulia in her arms.

"Mama, daddy say we make cookies today!" Asch perked up excitedly, nearly bouncing from the cream sofa.

"He did, now?" Tear slowly moved to eye Luke, "daddy knows it was supposed to be a surprise." Her husband sheepishly shrugged, making a face as to say 'was that supposed to be a secret?' The sudden excitement had caused the newborn to yawn, and make little grunting noises, as if ready to cry again.

"I'll take her, go take Asch to get something to eat." Luke immediately took his daughter from his wife and began to bounce her gently. Tear smiled gently, mouthing a thank you before taking her son's hand and making their way to the kitchen. Before long, Yulia began to give a furious wail, as if on cue with her mother's departure.

"Hey, little one, it's just daddy, don't worry.." the redhead cooed at the baby, bouncing her and stroking what little light brown hair she had on her head. The newborn's cries converted to sniffles and whimpers, now lazily staring at her daddy with her gentle but foggy green eyes.

"Now were you good for mommy earlier?" He continued to converse softly with her, gently rocking her in his arms. The baby's whimpers evolved yet again into fervent cries, much to Luke's dismay, but soon enough he was able to tell what was wrong. He sighed.

"Of course you left that for me to do when I came home." Luke mumbled as he carried his uncomfortable daughter to the nursery.

~

"Mama can we make cookies now?" Asch's eyes were glued onto the softening butter, poking it occasionally.

"We can only make the dough now, it has to chill overnight." Tear had taken out a few pastry meat pies from the oven and set them equally onto two colorful ceramic plates. Her four year old just could not take his mind off the cookies he envisioned of baking with his parents, he was so lost in thought that he did not realize that his afternoon snack was ready to be eaten. Realizing that her son was fixated onto sweets, the melodist sighed but laughed a little.

"How about if you finish at least most of your snack, we can make dough right away?" As Tear finished her offer, Asch responded with a very loud 'yes!' as she handed him his plate of food.

As the mother and son duo had finished their meal, they began to retrieve the ingredients required for their baking. Luke entered the kitchen not long after turning on the fonstone powered mixer to cream the butter and sugar.

"Asch, read what's next in the recipe."

"Uh, uh, add egg 'nd vah-vah-van-illa 'nd mix till comb-ine-" the smaller redhead struggled to continue reading the recipe.

"I'll help you. 'Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined'," Luke smiled and traced his finger over the text to aid his son in reading. He pointed to the word 'vanilla'

"This word is vanilla. Vah-nill-ah."

"Vah-nill-ah. Vah-nill-ah. Vah-nill-ah." The child repeated over and over.

"Great job. Now this word is combine. Come-bine."

"Come-bine. Come-bine." Tear smiled as she heard her husband teach their son while she gradually added the dry ingredients to the dough. Once done, she packaged the cookie dough, and left to store it in the ice house overnight. 

"Mama where the dough?" Asch frowned when he saw his mother return empty handed, wondering as to where the cookie dough he was very excited about had went.

"It has to chill overnight so we can get those nice shapes." the melodist smiled, passing her bare hand through the child's red hair.

"So what to do now?" Luke asked, now placing his hands on his child's shoulders, only for him to shrug away. "Sorry, bud."

"How about you two continue decorating the tree while I go check on Yulia? We've stalled on decorating for far too long." Tear maneuvered past the two.

Luke and Asch were graced with the presence of an incomplete Christmas fir tree as they entered the living room area. The poor and sad looking plant only had a few red ornaments scarcely scattered about. They had brought out the tree, set the lights and had begun to decorate it four weeks ago, but had stopped very prematurely as Tear was heavily pregnant at the time, and was too exhausted to continue. And the birth of their daughter sixteen days ago only delayed the activity further.

Asch found himself inspecting one of the crates of ornaments found parallel to the tree, revealing balls of red, silver and pink, while his father brought the hooks to hang them up. The child was busy removing ornaments and lining them up neatly on the side table, when he found one strange looking piece, clearly different to the rest. It was not as round shaped or smooth as the others, in fact it was bumpy, but it had beautiful patterns of silver glitter lacing the body.

"Daddy? What this?" he brought the peculiar object to his father, rather curious about it. Luke only took one look at the ornament, and realized that it had belonged to his original. How did this stay hidden for so many years? He had no claim to it, and deserved no credit for what Asch - the original Luke - had made in his childhood before his kidnapping. But it would be too hard to explain to a four year old.

"That's...something I made as a child," he began, already at a loss for words, "I have not seen that in years, how was that hidden there when we always use the decorations in this crate?"

"Can we put on tree?" the little Asch peeled his eyes off the ornament to look at his daddy's face, before observing it again. Luke wondered if his parents even remembered this, he would be amazed if they did.

"Well, it has a little hole to put a hook, so how about we put it in the middle?" He hooked the ornament with ease, and handed it to his son. Luke then held the child by under his arms, and lifted him. "See right there? In that really green spot, it can use the red, put it there." Asch nodded, hooking the decoration onto the tree. Once set down, the little child was glowing with happiness as he had begun to get back into the groove of decorating the tree. He excitedly picked out the prettiest looking decorative spheres and handed them to his father to hook them. The tinier redhead's joyful noises were able to be heard from across the manor, catching his mother's attention as she walked into the living room, with Yulia in tow.

"I see somebody very much loves decorating the Christmas tree." Tear chuckled, setting down the baby before meeting with her son.

"Is mama gonna decorate too??" Asch's ocean blue eyes lit up. In response, Tear hooked a snowflake ornament, and placed it on the nearest branch. Luke smiled at the radiating joy of his son and his wife, listening into discussions about what Santa will bring and what kind of cookies to leave for him. He walked across to the tiny cradle holding his daughter, fitted a tiny Santa hat that he had found in the crates onto her soft head and gently tapped her delicate little noise. Her near-immediate sneeze initiated a laugh from her father.

~

Hours later, once finished with adorning the tree, the family sat on the couch beside it, watching as the bright fonstone lights twinkled into the night flooded living room. Asch was slowly, but surely, dozing off while cuddling in warm and soft blankets with his mother, while she softly serenaded her son with what he knows as just a lullaby. Luke, cradling a sleeping Yulia on his chest, instantly recognized the song, and he couldn't help but smile. The same song that was the first thing he heard upon returning from his 2 year absence, the song that brought him to peace in his times of despair, the Grand Fonic Hymn. Once the melody had finished, and soft snoring had begun, Luke inched closer to his wife, and pecked a kiss onto her cheek, making her blush like a young teen aged girl.

"What was that for?"

"Can't I kiss you on the cheek?" he smiled, gaining a light chuckle from Tear.

"Asch seems to love to hear it when he has trouble sleeping," she began, "so I thought since it was so peaceful tonight, to sing it for him."

"Whenever I hear the Grand Fonic Hymn, I remember the night I returned," Luke cut his gaze from his lover to the sparkling Christmas tree, "Guy teased me for months about how you singing it on the night of my coming of age ceremony brought me back." Tear went red. Why did her husband have to remind her of that.

"Did he really have to put it out like that?" the melodist attempted to conceal her face with the blanket her son was huddled in.

"Even after years of marriage, AND two children, you still get flustered like that?" the nobleman laughed gently.

"I-I am still insecure!"

"You'll always be cute when you're flustered."

"Shut up." The woman removed one of her arms cuddling Asch and playfully swatted her husband.

~

The sun's rising rays gently hit the sleeping couple in their bed as morning begun once more. Flurries formed in the sky, granting the land a gentle snowfall in the early morning. For once, Luke was the one to wake up first. He stared at his lover, holding onto him in her sleep. Usually, her head would be tucked under the crook of his neck, but she looked so tired that her head was laying on the mid section of his torso. Yulia was probably fussy last night. Within eye distance was a cradle, holding their little daughter as she slept. Her father still wondered how he could sometimes sleep through her night time crying, his wife easily looked more tired than usual, evidence that she alone was up with the baby. Luke gave a weak smile as he bent down to kiss Tear's forehead and move her back onto her pillow, in which she lightly stirred. He fixed his gaze out the window, watching as the sun continued to rise and compete with clouds filled with snow, dim light filling their bedroom.

The bedroom door creaked open, allowing a four year old redhead to enter the room, carrying his stuffed cheagle with him. He walked sleepily up to his father's side, and climbed onto the bed, startling the older redhead.

"Asch, what are you doing up so early?"

"Sleepy. Can't sleep."

Luke sighed. He brought his son's body closer to him, into an embrace and laid back onto the pillows. The child spotted his sleeping mother, somehow not awoken by her son's arrival.

"Mommy sleeping?" Asch nuzzled his father and began to hide his head under his neck.

"Yeah, she was up with your sister all last night."

"Yulia cries a lot." The little boy's voice began to soften as he relaxed on his father's body.

"You did too as a baby," Luke countered, "I remember when we stayed up all night when you didn't want to eat but at the same time you were hungry!" The child in question stayed quiet as a wail filled the room. Luke sighed and asked his son to cuddle with Tear, as he got up to tend the source of the cries. Yulia calmed down instantly upon her father's approaching. He gently lifted her into his arms, and walked back to the bed. Asch had made himself comfortable by throwing his mother's arm around himself. The little baby made a soft grunt as Luke fixed her position on his chest, giving enough space for her big brother to potentially rejoin. The constant shifting had finally awoken Tear, noted by her lazily giving her son a kiss on the crown of his head.

"Good morning, everybody." her sleepy greeting was met by warm smiles, and soft kisses from her two favorite men.

~

With the family fully awake and breakfast over, Asch's mindset immediately geared itself to cookie mode. He waited far too long for this moment. He and his family will make cookies today, and nobody will stop them or have anything to do about it. Tear brought out the selection of Christmas cookie cutters before going to retrieve the dough, while Luke floured the counter surface lightly. Luke brought two medium sized aprons, and one very small one. He fitted his child with a blue cheagle's belly printed apron, before fitting a pure white apron over his body. Tear returned, resting the cold cookie dough onto the floured surface as her husband lightly sprinkled some extra flour on it, and the wooden rolling pin.

"Asch, do you know how to roll out dough?" She asked the child, Asch shook his head negatively. She took her son's little hands and held them at both ends of the pin, proceeding to roll out the dough until quarter of an inch thick. Luke then cut out snowman shapes with the cutters, before handing the shaped cutter to the little redhead to continue cutting. Tear began to line half sheet pans with parchment paper, before moving on to heating the oven. The older redhead guided his son in re-rolling the cookie dough after setting the cut shapes onto the pans, his wife giving their child a gift box cutter to use.

When Tear moved to bake two trays of cookies, Luke sneakily broke a small piece of dough, breaking another small piece and resting it on Asch's lips, a cue to eat it. The child happily ate the raw cookie dough, smiling as his daddy also indulged in the treat.

"Luke! Why are you giving Asch raw cookie dough?" Tear's stern voice caught him off guard. Busted.

"I was just, uh, letting him taste!" He tried to defend himself.

"It tastes good, mama!" Asch happily exclaimed.

"You shouldn't eat raw cookie dough, love," the melodist sighed as she explained to her son, "you can get a really bad tummy ache and wouldn't be able to eat treats all day." 

"Like when yer belly was big, mama?" he tilted his head innocently, giving his parents a little shock.

"N-No, that's something, c-completely different," Tear struggled to find the words to use, "but don't eat raw dough or you could get sick." The small child frowned at hearing this, but gave a sad 'okay' as he promised his mother. With two sheets of cookies baking, Luke took Asch aside and told him to find a servant for a suitable cookie jar, and once nobody was looking, Tear broke a very small piece cookie dough and ate it for herself.

"I saw that."

"No you didn't."

"I saw you sneak that little piece of dough, Tear."

"You saw nothing, Luke."

He laughed, pecking a kiss on his wife's sugary lips. She childishly pouted, which made the noble laugh harder. As Asch returned with a maid and cookie jar, his mother had just removed the first two half sheet trays of cookies from the oven, and placed the third and fourth trays in the oven, while his father had brought out the wired cooling rack. They quickly, but carefully, moved the now baked sugar cookies to the rack, and reused the trays to cut out and bake the remaining cookie dough.

~

"Well, I can definitely smell cookies from on the other side of the manor." After another hour of activity, the trio were joined by Susanne, Luke's mother, with a visibly fussy Yulia and Mieu in tow. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of the final two trays holding baking cookies. The older lady handed her granddaughter to her daughter-in-law, with the baby becoming less agitated, and began to make small talk with her grandson. The small blue cheagle flew over to his former master, who had allowed him to perch onto his shoulder and nuzzle him.

"So what cookie shapes did you make?"

"We made, uh, snowmen, 'nd uh candy canes 'nd presents 'nd trees-" Asch rambled off to his grandmother while offering her one of the candy cane shaped cookies. Luke had extinguished the oven once taking out the trays of cookies, and resting them on the counter to cool, Mieu still perched on to him. The small cheagle then moved onto Tear, reaching to nuzzle the baby that she held.

"Would there be enough cookies for Santa, Asch?" Susanne asked him before taking a bite of the cookie offered to her.

"Um, uh, yes?" the small redheaded child quickly looked at his mother, who smiled and nodded in agreement, "yes we do!"

"Have you been good for Santa this year, Asch?" Mieu chirped.

"Yes 'nd mama 'nd daddy 'nd grandma 'nd Yulia too!"

"What about grandpa?" Tear asked quietly, already knowing her son's response, "was he good for Santa this year too?"

'...nah," Asch quickly shook his head, "he scream at mama 'nd Yulia, he get nothing." The adults and cheagle laughed at the child's response, with added grunts from Yulia.

With the remaining cookies cooled completely and packed into the jar, the family moved from the kitchen into the living room, watching the snow fall outside the window. The frosty wonderland of outdoors looked appealing to go play in, but Luke and Tear preferred to spend the rest of the day indoors with their children. Asch had been on the floor with Mieu, playing with his fluffy teddy bears and rappig plushes, and Yulia laid snuggled in her mother's arms, yawning and nuzzling her breast. Luke was conversing with Susanne about the Kimlascan Christmas luncheon soon to come, leaving Tear to watch her happy little family. Content with the world and its current peace, the melodist sang a wintery, Christmas lullaby.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Izzy, Merry Christmas! I was super surprised to be assigned you for the event, and it was SUPER HARD to keep quiet on what I was doing. This was actually perfectly timed as we literally just clocked in a year of speaking to each other. Thanks for always being there, I'm really glad we're still able to be close and memeing the heck out of Asch (not little one he is untouchable). I hope you and your family have a great Christmas today!
> 
> I would also like to give a shoutout and thank you to kurisulez on twitter and gotaless on instagram for pre-reading this for me! It really means a lot and helped me pick up on small errors I overlooked!


End file.
